Gesellschaft der Ärzte in Wien

Gesellschaft der Ärzte in Wien (College of Physicians in Vienna) is a medical society with a long-standing tradition in Austria. Its principal task is the continuing education of medical practitioners. The society's headquarter is the Billrothhaus in the 9th district of Vienna.

The organization's main task is the education of medics and the presentation of new scientific findings in the field of medicine. For this purpose, the Gesellschaft der Ärzte organizes scientific events, runs a library and publishes educational videos.

The organization's president is the radiologist and university professor Franz Kainberger.

35 years prior to the foundation of the Gesellschaft der Ärzte in Wien, young physicians met to discuss relevant scientific information. These meetings were the basis for the society's formation.

The Ärztevereinigung (physician's club) was founded in 1802 by Johann Anton Heidmann (1775–1855). Its members subscribed to medical journals then passed them on to other members. The scientific results where discussed during weekly meetings in the apartment of Dr. Heidmann and, after 1804, that of Dr. Malfatti. Other famous members of the club were Ludwig Freiherr von Türkheim, Franz Wirer and Johann Friedrich Osiander. This association published a yearly journal, the Gesundheitstaschenbuch (Health Manual). The Ärzteforum (physicians' forum) was founded in the early 1830s and had very renowned medics amongst its members, including Ignaz Rudolf Bischoff, university professor at the Josephinum in Vienna, Johann Hassinger, who later was deemed surgeon general, Heinrich Herzfelder, later the Chief Physician in the Israelite Hospital, Ludwig Wilhelm Mauthner von Mauthstein, founder of St. Anna children's hospital and the first professor of pediatrics, as well as the practicing physician Rudolph von Vivenot.

Franz Wirer and Ludwig Türkheim, who both were rectors at the University, are considered "the founding fathers" of the organization; however, this was not possible until the privy councilor Andreas Joseph von Stifft, who was against the creation of the society, died. Their main goal by creating the Gesellschaft der Ärzte was to promote the health sciences as art and science, prior to the goals of the Ärztevereinigung. Additionally, they hoped to use it as a platform to formulate their response to the ongoing cholera epidemic.

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